Liverpool Prepare For Coutinho Transfer

Coutinho Image Disappears From Liverpool Club Shop

Liverpool have begun to withdraw the image of wantaway forward Philippe Coutinho from the club’s marketing materials.

An employee at the club shop was spotted removing placards of the Brazil international on Saturday. The move is being seen as a weakening of the club’s stance that they will not sell the 24-year-old this summer.

Coutinho handed in a transfer request on Friday and seems to be determined to engineer a move away from Anfield before the end of the transfer window in less than three weeks’ time.

Manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted all along that the Brazilian is staying, but the German appears to be weakening his own position if comments he made following the Reds’ 3-3 draw at Watford on Saturday are anything to go by.

“As a manager of a football club, I have bosses that decide, for example, just in general, if we sell a player or we don’t sell him. Then I have to accept it,” Klopp said.

“If they don’t sell him, then I am not involved any more. I’m responsible for all of our players, not just one or two or three, but all of them.

“I can’t say anything about it, the only thing is I work with the players I have. That’s what I’m always doing.

“How can it change something for me? I didn’t make the decision. You have to ask the club. I didn’t see the club insiders today. You have to ask them.”

Coutinho’s transfer request came just hours after the club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, insisted that he would still be a Liverpool player after the transfer deadline.

“It was pretty clear what the club said about it. That’s all,” added Klopp.

Coutinho missed Saturday’s season-opener with a back injury. He is not expected to be part of the side that faces Hoffenheim in a Champions League play-off tie on Tuesday.